Stuffed Zucchini

Much to our surprise and pleasure our little garden has been quite bountiful! We have many zucchini squash and summer squash plus cucumbers, beets, and peas. In an effort to use what we have been growing in more than one or two ways I have tried a couple new recipes of late.  For the record Matt heard about stuffed zucchini from a friend at church and he told me about it and I came up with the following as an attempt. We found it very delicious, possibly a new favorite, but be warned it is an Erin Jeanne-make-it-up-as-I-go recipe. There are two variations, one with beef and a tomato based sauce and the second with chicken and a soup based sauce. Again, we found both delicious and though I am always thinking of ways to change a recipe,or improve it, I will post the basic here, for now. =)

Red Stuffed Zucchini

Preheat oven to 350'

1 large zucchini, or 2 medium

1lbs hamburger
one 6 oz can tomato paste
one Small belle pepper
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic salt
Onion salt
Oregano
Sweet Basil
Sugar

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Prepare Zucchini: Cut in half then cut each half length-wise and de-seed. Rinse, dry, sprinkle with a touch of garlic salt and Parmesan cheese place in a buttered baking dish.

Filling: Brown the meat and drain off grease. Mix in tomato paste.  Add other ingredients to taste, I only use about a table spoon of sugar.  I basically just added them like I was making spaghetti sauce. Sorry I do not have exact measurements for the spices. I would start with teaspoons or half teaspoons if you are new to this type of sauce, you can always add more.....  I put a small amount of Mozzarella in the mix, but saved it mostly for the top.
Put the filling int the prepared zucchini slices. Cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your zucchinis, until tender. Cover with cheese and continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes to melt cheese, we like our slightly browned.  Enjoy!

White Stuffed Zucchini:

Same basic principle as above, just with out the tomatoes or beef. =) I am just going to list the ingredients. You do all the same things as above!

one 13 oz can chicken breast
one 10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup
one small belle pepper
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic salt
Onion salt
Oregano
Sweet Basil

Mozzarella cheese

Super Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

I just made this tonight for the family.  It was a huge hit - even my picky eater was asking for more!  I admit, it is the only Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe I have ever made, so I can't say if it is as good as the hard way, but we sure liked it!

INGREDIENTS:
For the Cordon Bleu:
3 large chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise (to form two thinner chicken breast cutlets)
12 slices deli ham
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 to 1/2 pound thinly sliced swiss cheese

For the Parmesan-Dijon Cream Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (or 1 bouillon cube, crushed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs and melted butter. Set aside.

Lay the cut chicken breasts in a single layer in the 9X13-inch dish. Layer each chicken breast with two slices of ham and top with 2 slices of swiss cheese, shingling across the chicken breast to make sure the entire chicken breast is covered with ham and cheese. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top of the chicken.

Bake the chicken for 30-35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through completely, the cheese is bubbling and the bread crumbs are golden.

While the chicken bakes, in a medium saucepan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly, while cooking the flour/butter mixture for 1-2 minutes. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking quickly. Stir in the chicken bouillon granules and salt. Whisk constantly over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer and thicken, about 3-5 minutes. Once the sauce has bubbled and thickened, remove from heat and stir in the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Keep the sauce warm until the chicken is finished baking.

Serve each chicken cordon bleu portion with warm sauce.

Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

One Pan Chicken and Potato Bake

This recipe is from the Kraftfood Magazine. I used to get it regularly and really liked it! Now I just check out the website.  This is a quick and easy throw in the oven and come back to a hardy meal.

Ingredients:

3 medium sized boneless skinless chicken breasts ( the original recipe uses legs and thighs, but I usually have breasts on hand in the freezer.)
3-4 medium sized potatoes cut in to wedges
3/4 cup Italian dressing (zesty works well too)
Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
Grease casserole pan and place potato wedges in bottom, cover lightly with dressing. Place chicken breasts on top of potatoes cover with dressing and Parmesan cheese. Place in preheated oven 400' for about 45 minutes.  The cheese will brown up a little as will the potatoes. 

I usually serve this with a cold salad and or cold fruit.

Baked "Fried" Chicken

This is one of my favorite go-to meals. I usually always have chicken on hand, and this recipe is E A S Y! Not to mention delicious and one of my kids' favorites (anything that scores big with the kids is high on my list!)

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Breadcrumbs
Butter
Nature Seasoning (or all spice)

Directions:

Turn the oven to 350.

Assemble your breadcrumb coating. I usually will crumble up soda crackers, or corn flakes, or old breadcrumbs. Just depends on what I have laying around the house. If I'm being super fancy, I use the breadcrumbs that come nicely crumbled in a jar. Complete with flavoring! Add to the breadcrumbs a few shakes of the Nature Seasoning. Mix.

Wash uncooked chicken breasts. Towel dry. Lay the chicken (one at a time) in the breadcrumb mixture to coat both sides.

Grease a baking dish with a little Pam or Butter. Lay the chicken in the baker parallel to each other. In between each breast, put 1 tablespoon of butter.

Place in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the breasts over and cook for an additional 30 minutes. (If your butter has boiled and evaporated out, add a few more chunks before you cook for the last 30 minutes.)

That's it! Enjoy!

Complete the meal:

I usually serve this with Rice A Roni Chicken Rice and some Frozen Peas.

Teriyaki Chicken

I think it might be nice to include some meal combinations that are not necessarily involved recipes, just dinner ideas.  In that vein I want to tell you about a pre-prepared food that I buy at Sam's Club that we just love and is sooo easy and quick for those nights I just don't get to cooking something from scratch.

The nutrition for this convenience food is still quite good, and they are calorie friendly if you are watching calories. Both my kids like these, so that is a huge plus!  The price is very good for the convenience too!They are about $12.00 per bag before tax and we usually get 4-5 meals per bag, so around $3.50 per meal, and that is all 4 of us! In a pinch you can heat them in the microwave (they are fully cooked so you are just warming them through) and if you have time you can cook them in the oven in about 25 minutes. I think they are a bit better in the oven but yesterday at lunch I used the microwave!  In the winter I will make pasta and/or warm veggies and apple slices with it and in the summer I often have a tossed salad and some cold fruit.